Old-Line Republicans Move to Freeze Out the Insurgents
The state central committee calls an August convention a month before the primaries — a maneuver progressives say is designed to strip them of a voice in the party platform.
The opening gun in the battle which is to be waged in this state between the old-line Republicans and the progressives, or insurgents, was fired at the meeting of the state central committee at Seattle Wednesday. The old-line men had everything their own way and issued a call for a state convention to be held in August, more than a month before the primaries. This action is looked upon by the insurgents as an attempt to deprive them of representation at the convention, and to prevent the insertion in the party platform of planks favorable to their interest. The primary law provides for the selection of new committeemen in September, and the action of the present committee in assuming charge of the affairs of the party before the primaries may be resented by many of the voters. The 'old line' men's experiment may prove to be a costly one. — Spokane Chronicle.
“The old-line men had everything their own way and issued a call for a state convention to be held in August, more than a month before the primaries.”
The 1910 fight between party regulars and insurgents over who controls the convention calendar is the direct ancestor of every modern dispute over primary rules, delegate counts and platform planks. Then as now, the people who set the schedule set the outcome.
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